Although summer may seem miles away, I thought I would get you a little excited about those hot days by introducing you to sailing. Now I am not talking about the captain’s hat and booze cruising sailing, I am talking about the physically demanding, mentally challenging, Olympic class sailing.

Sailing seems to have been in my life for as long as I can remember. My dad is a sailor, and a pretty great one at that. I am pretty thankful that he chucked me in a boat at a young age, and although I may have lost my favourite pink flamingo hat one my first outing, I soon fell in love with it and it has become part of my identity.

The sailing community in Canada is so close knit, and I was lucky enough to cross paths with Sarah Douglas a few years back when I was working in Toronto as the head coach at a sailing club there. At the time she was on the Ontario Sailing Team and I have been so excited to see her progress and be a total inspiration to young sailors across the country.

I was able to steal some time in her very busy schedule to get some questions in, and I hope you enjoy virtually meeting Sarah!

If there is anything that I have struggled with lately, it’s turning off my mind when it’s time to go to sleep. Does anyone else have this same problem? It feels like all day there is an energy deficit, and I am so sleepy… but of course, night hits, and all of a sudden I am wide-awake.

This affects me the next day in a few ways. Not only do I find it difficult to wake up, but I also hit a wall as soon as I get home from work where I feel the need to sleep right away. I have experienced this type of insomnia before during times of stress, and it’s easy to feel like this is out of my control.

As a chiropractor and fitness coach, I often ask patients and clients the following questions - Do you wake up the day after a workout feeling stiff and sore? Is your desk job a (literal) pain in the neck? Are you getting headaches after an upper body workout or a long day at work? If the answer is yes, there are many factors to consider – sleep, stress, hydration, nutrition, ergonomics and self-care, to name a few. One of them may be recurrent or chronic tension. If that’s the case, which for most people is at least part of the reason, it might be time to consider foam rolling as part of your daily routine. Your body will thank you!

You might recognize Meghan House from The Bachelor Canada. She was known for her humour, her good ol' Newfie accent, and her kindness. Since her appearance on the show, Meghan's life has changed significantly. She is now happily in love and is on a brand new journey, as she is also pregnant!

For this month's article I chat with Meghan about the changes to her lifestyle within the past year, her daily routine, and her pregnancy journey.

I am a huge fan of sleeping, and I love products that can help promote a good sleep.

Sleep is a crucial part of healing and your overall health, which is why I make sleep one of my wellness priorities. Our body needs that time to heal and to rest, and when we neglect that base need we can see some very serious health issues.

Let me walk you through a few of the products that I would recommend that help me find deeper sleep!

I know I’m late to the game on this one, but I’m obsessed with podcasts. Friends have been telling me for the last couple of years to check them out and for one reason or another, it took me until last fall to actually download the app and dive in. Now that I have, I’m officially a podcast junkie, and listen to them constantly. Driving to work? Podcast. Taking transit downtown? Podcast. Making dinner? Podcast. You get the picture.

So, in the spirit of my new found love affair, here are a couple of my favourites!

Four years ago my two best friends and I booked a trip to travel around Ireland and Scotland. Little did we know back then that trip would lead to me finding my new home and my boyfriend S. They have openly admitted wishing we had booked another location so that I was still in Canada…but hey ;)

My life back in Ottawa was great, I really couldn't complain. I was close to my friends and family, had a lovely home, and a career. The thought of leaving it all behind to move to a new country was daunting, but also really exciting. It helps that I was moving closer to my family in Ireland, but also I was moving to be with S. and that would save money on constant flying back and fourth to Scotland!

I am addicted to my phone. I take my phone everywhere (including the bathroom), I leave it on my desk at work, place in on the passenger's seat of my car, pull it out during dinner dates and functions, and I never ever ever leave my house without it. After reading the book How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price, I felt the urge to know exactly how, when, and why I use my phone. For an entire day I wrote down every single moment that I picked up my phone. I pick up my phone the second I wake up, look at it though breakfast, take it to the bathroom with me while I get ready for work, hold it in my hand when I’m in the elevator, check it before I pull out of the parking garage, look at in the drive thru, pick it up when I park my car at the office, and take a quick glance before I turn on my laptop at work. And that is all before 8:00 AM.

One of my dear friends was celebrating her birthday at Track & Field in Toronto last night and the festivities kicked off at 10 pm, unfortunately I rolled in a little late, not as a fashionably-late ploy but because I worked until 11 pm covering the ACTRA awards, and I rolled in tired AF. That kind of tired where your eyes are constantly burning and your joints ache making you question if you’re actually 30 going on 80 kind of vibe. So, my big plan was to stay for an hour, sip on some soda water, and Houdini out of there to get a decent nights sleep since I had a #HealthyIsHot class scheduled at 9:45 am at F45. My plan was solid. Or so I thought.

Mornings can be tough. It’s hard to pry yourself out of the comfort of your bed. But developing a good morning routine can lead you to actually looking forward to waking up. I would say that I’m a morning person because I allow myself time in the morning to do things that set me up to have a good day.

Meet the self-proclaimed gluten free queen of Toronto- Rachael Hunt. Founder of GlutenFreedominc.com and Freedom School, Rachael loves scrolling through Instagram in search of the latest and greatest gluten-free eats across the city. She was diagnosed celiac 6 years ago, and it’s become her mission to share all of her discoveries in the gluten free world. Rachael also works with people who desire to turn their side hustle into their main attraction to achieve more freedom in their life- appropriately titled as a Freedom coach! I sat down with Rachael to discuss everything from her many different job titles she holds, to why she loves dragging her friends out for a night of dancing!

This past week I found myself heading to the airport, not for a junket, or a red carpet premiere, or anything related to my day job at Bell for that matter, but instead to moderate a half hour program in our nation’s capital celebrating International Development Week with key individuals making waves on the quest (a non-negotiable if you ask me) towards gender equality. Through my partnership with FINCA Canada, I was welcomed there with open arms in both French and English, by government officials, NGO leaders and incredibly inspiring youth from across the country in an area I felt more like a fish out of water than a professional host.

Meet Lauren Kurtz. She’s the founder of Apres Actif, an active lifestyle brand inspired by ski and snowboard culture, and Detox Social, a third party agency where influencers, brands, etc can outsource their social media. This girl’s hustle is like no others. She works hard each day to get her brand out there, and it shows! Healthy is Hot sat down with Lauren to chat about her morning routine, how she deals with Insta trolls, and why she likes to take showers longer than anyone you probably know!

Meet Beverly Cheng. After leaving her secure, full-time insurance job, Beverly dived into the world of entrepreneurship! She is now a self-employed fitness trainer, sports model, and blogger in Toronto! She started her blog, Born to Sweat, back in 2014 and it has since grown each year, becoming a go-to platform for workout videos, recipes, and tips and tricks to living your best healthy life! With over 74,000 followers on Instagram, Beverly believes we were all born to sweat!

I often find myself wondering, what is happiness? Pleasure. Satisfaction. Joviality. Enjoyment. Bliss. Well-being. We all seem to be on a quest for a state of happiness and so I thought I would kick off the year by spotlighting a person who embodies that word for me. Meet Cheryl Torrance aka my Hero of Happiness. For all those who have the chance to cross her path, you leave any interaction with her feeling lighter, happier and energized. Cheryl just turned 50 and I thought sharing her journey with our HIH readers would bring all of us closer to understanding how we can achieve the state of happiness we all want so badly.

Although I had tried espresso at my Nonna's house as a child, I had my first cup of coffee in grade nine on a family trip to Cuba. I remember the warmth of the creamy coffee cascading down my throat. I remember the sweetness tickling my tongue and thinking so this is what all the fuss is about. And so began my biggest vice to date.

A few days before the break I was killing (*wasting*) time on Instagram when I came across a post from Lauren McPhillips, better known as This Renegade Love, letting her followers know she’d be taking a two week hiatus from the ‘gram over the holidays.

It’s pretty rare that anything on Instagram makes me take a second to stop and think, but this stuck. I was sad because I like what she has to say and enjoy seeing her authentic and genuine content in my sometimes lack luster feed, but I also had this weird mix of envy and admiration.

Hi HIH! It’s been a minute! How is everyone’s 2019 kicking off? Well, I hope!

Let’s get right to it - what is with this #10YearChallenge?! Working in the social media space, the team and I couldn’t help but wonder what the motivation is behind this viral campaign! We took it to a discussion, sourcing insights from the most credible outlets. Here’s what we found…